How retarded is it if I want to go into college to major in computers

Try asking a counselor with your school how much basic knowledge about computers you will need to know for those courses. They'll either know or be able to put you through to a professor or veteran student who can tell you what you'll need to know for the course.

>>17278335
Counselor said it would be fine, but I cannot find anyone with a computer related degree to give me tips and pointers. I'm a bit anxious, but if I really put the time into it it would be fine, yeah?

When I say not a whole lot, I know a few programming languages and the basic components of a computer, but not how to hack the fucking white house.

>>17278340
From your post, I thought that you were mostly computer-illiterate.

You will be fine. They'll teach you what you need to know. There's a reason most courses start with an 'Intro to...'

>>17278340
Shit, a lot of the early courses don't even assume you know basic file management. You'll he fine.

>>17278340
Yo dude, I applied for computer science but decided I don't want to do it and now am going into the military. I was accepted by a pretty big UK university.

I don't know much about computers, aside from daily use stuff and I did a few introductory programming courses in Python and Java. That's basically it. Everything else you can learn easily over the course of your degree if you put the effort in. Khanacademy has some stuff, there's MILLIONS of programming courses and guides, buy some good books too.

Computer science - i.e. the actual stuff behind the scenes, you can also learn from books. You might want to some background in physics - high school physics will probably do with a bit of supplementary knowledge. Khanacademy can help with that again.

All you need to do is work hard and you'll succeed in the degree. Don't become a fat neckbeard and continue to learn constantly.

You really will be fine.

ps: Most of the guys that say they know all this advanced shit are either autists or are lying. I was the latter when I applied for my course,

>>17278341
Thank you. That's a bit more comforting. Any cool projects I can start doing at home?
>>17278347
Thanks man.

That said, if I want to learn the most about computers, computer engineering is definitely the way to go, right?

>>17278354
If you just want to learn about computers, go for computer science.

If you want to have a better feel for the security side look up the defcon conference and watch some talks.

>>17278351
Thanks so much. I figured that if I got into one of my upper-list schools, it may be a bit of a harsh environment for me to really learn and take in everything, but I guess I'm just overreacting. I've been hunting for some good books, just been a bit tight on money but that'll for sure be my next investment.

Also, what branch? Considered military for a long time actually, ended up not wanting to get dead, though

>>17278357
Isn't that the whole program side though?
From what professors have told me
>Computer engineering- Learning the hardware components and how they work
>Electrical Engineering is what gets the computer working
>CS is the commanding of the computer

>>17278362
Not necessarily. In some schools' definition, computer science is the mathematical field of the theory and description behind the concepts of computers. I had one class where we only turned on a computer twice in the quarter, to type the written part of the midterm and final. The rest was all handwritten math proofs and theories.

>>17278362
I am going to try for the Royal Navy first, if they reject me for the role I want I'm gonna try the Army as an officer, and if rejected from that too I'll head into that Army as a CMT

You need to avoid comparing yourself to the others when you get to university. There will be hundreds of people who seem to be better than you at everything. just focus on bettering yourself

>>17278368
Do you think a computer engineering/CS double major would work? As in, do they go with each other?

Really just want to get as much knowledge as I can. I feel like college is a great place to learn what you can

>>17278340
My friend went into college with no computer experience and ended up starting his own company and retiring at 40

>>17278340
If you've programmed in several languages before, you know by far the most difficult thing to learn -- arguably the only thing in the field that can't be taught -- how to *think* like a programmer. Everything else you can pick up fairly quickly.

You'll be fine.

>>17278381
Don't waste your time with a double major. Pick one major them get a masters in the other. Same amount of time, but a masters is worth more than an extra BS.

>>17278381
No reason it can't. Might be a big field to study, be sure you're dedicated enough to double major.

>>17278329
what exactly to you expect / want to learn ?
i study CS/SE with some CE electives

>>17278427
Basically as much as I can. The logic side would be cool

>>17278448
not sure what you mean by logic side, but it doesn't seem like you actually know what you want to do.

don't you have something specifical in mind ? like what's your goal ?

>>17278461
Yeah, sorry, scattered.

I just want to be able to look at a computer and go "oh, xyz does xyz" and be able to understand WHY.

>>17278468
thats nothing you really need to go to college/university (not sure whats the difference here, i'm from europe) for.

i'll try to make it broad and simple (but it's not entirely correct), theres:
CS: mainly theoretical, look into formal languages, computability and automata theory to get an idea
EE: how the hardware is build on a low level
CE: a layer between CS and EE, basically designing for EE to make it useable for CS

>>17278329
CompSci fag here...in order to learn computer science(it looks to me that this is what u want) you dont have to know a lot about computers, yoi have to know a lot about mathematics.
I suggest you to read about kd-trees, if you like it, then maybe CompSci is for u m8.

lemme correct >>17278478 a little bit:
from a CS point of few:
cs: how a problem can be solved
ce: designing the system for it
ee: designing the components for that system

but don't get me wrong, they are all equally important, and ofc have other purposes too, but i guess thats the easiest way to put it for someone who has no real idea what those are

>>17278486
s/few/view/

>>17278482
I really don't agree with this.

For a comp. sci major, that's absolutely true, but there's plenty of actual jobs in the software industry that don't require much mathy know-how at all.

>>17278494
those are called codemonkey jobs for a reason.
you can't write efficient algorithms without having math/cs knowledge for it.

>>17278329
no one who
> learned how to make my own computer and learned 409494 programming languages at age 7

is going to be in a CS class. They're all already working.

I'm one of the "I learned to make my own operating system at the age of 3!" people and I'm doing a CS and Mathematics double major.

Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about. The coursework is specifically geared to allow people without the slightest idea to get into it and learn the material.

>>17278494
Sure, everyone that have a CompSci degree can turn himself in a code monkey, but is a waste of time, money a d effort to get a degree and work like that. Real computer scientists develop their solutions based on strong mathematical models, working on problems involving linear programming, graph theory, discrete math and etc., it's obvious that will have a lot of programming in the process, but the focus is the logical thinking, the focus IS NOT the capacity in working with a certain language or API, this is a pre requisite.

>>17278494
Those are the same kinds of jobs that get outsourced to pajeet.
You're there to build on the same awful code base in C# or Java as the other 90 retards before you, and you'll get compensated appropriately. Read: You'll get paid shit.

>How retarded is it if I want to go into college to major in computers despite not knowing a lot in the first place about them?
That's not retarded at all. That's why intro courses exist.

>Any tips?
Talk to your college counselor about what you want. You'll most likely be recommended to start with broad intro courses before you decide to pigeon hole yourself into a particular field for the rest of your life.

>hurrrr.... durrrr.... i want to make video games! maybe i should learn programming!
there's nothing fun about being a computer programmer.
programming is boring as fuck.
video game programmers spend the entire day working with algorithms under ridiculous deadlines.
the fun jobs that you're thinking of are: video game designer, and video game producer.
those are the jobs that let you fuck around with video games and get paid a lot of money doing it.
i suggest that you become a graphic designer, so you could make elf tits all day for an RPG or something

>>17278652
no one in the entire thread has mentioned games.

>>17278652
OP here, wasn't planning on going into game design. I just want to learn about computers and such.

Also, wow /adv/ actually helped for once. Thanks guys, I really do feel a lot more confident going into it now. Fingers crossed

>>17278869
i'd still suggest that you take a look into some CS, CE, EE (and maybe SE) curricula first and study a little bit on your own to get an idea what you really want to do.

for CS look into graph theory, formal languages, computability, automata theory, and algorithms and datastructures which would be the practical application of the first 4 fields

for EE look into discrete/logic and analog circuits

for CE microcontroller / embedded systems programming + what i've mentioned for CS